Words of Spirit and Life

Theme: THE LORD SAVES US FROM SIN AND DEATH 

• Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24;
• Psalm 29 (30): 2. 4-6. 11-13. R/ v. 2;
• 2 Corinthians 8:7. 9. 13-15.
• Mark 5: 21-24. 35-43. (Shorter Form)

Today we celebrate the 13^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Liturgical Year B. The readings today tell us that the Lord saves us from sin and death! 

The first reading tells us that God created us in his own image to live an eternal life of love and happiness! But it was the devils envy that brought sin and death into the world!

Sin is not only breaking the law, or doing something bad, or doing something wrong, or doing something immoral or unethical; but sin is death! Thus Paul writes:

“For the wage paid by sin is death.” (Rm 6:23; NJB)

Thus we read in the first reading:

“Yet God did make man imperishable, he made him in the image of his own nature; it was the devil’s envy that brought death into the world, as those who are his partners will discover.” (Ws 2: 23-24; SM)

But more importantly, the gospel today tells us that the Lord raises us from the dead! The gospel today tells us that the Lord raised the dead daughter of Jairus the synagogue official from the dead!

More importantly, the raising of Jairus daughter to life points to the death and resurrection of the Lord himself, and most importantly, to our own death and resurrection with the Lord in Baptism!

And most importantly, again, the new life of the resurrection is even better than the old life before sin! Thus we sing in the Easter Proclamation on Easter Vigil Night:

“O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great a Redeemer”! (SM)

Paul tells us that where sin increased, grace increased all the more! (Rm 5:20) The grace of Jesus Christ far outweighed our sins! The grace of Jesus Christ more than compensated for our sins! So much so that the new life of the resurrection is even better than the old life before sin! Again, the Easter Proclamation in the New Translation of The Roman Missal:

“O truly necessary sin of Adam, destroyed completely by the Death of Christ! O happy fault that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!”

The responsorial psalm is a thanksgiving for salvation! (CSB) Thus the response of the responsorial psalm:

“I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.” (Ps 29 (30): 2; SM)

The responsorial psalm has three stanzas. The first stanza thanks God for salvation! (vv. 2 & 4; SM) The second stanza invites the whole community to thank God. (vv. 5-6; SM) The third stanza again thanks God for salvation! (vv. 11-13; SM)

The second reading does not follow the theme of the Sunday, but again, the second reading has something important to tell us! In the second reading Paul tells the Gentile Corinthian church to make a collection for the Jewish Jerusalem church. The collection is not only to help the mother church in Jerusalem economically, but the collection is also an expression of the unity of the church!

Today in this Mass, we thank God for creating us in his own image to live, to love and to be happy; more importantly, we also thank God for saving us from sin and death in his Son Jesus Christ; and most importantly, we ask God to continue to sanctify us in the Holy Spirit! We also ask God to continue to help us help the poor and the needy! A happy and blessed Sunday to all of you!